All posts by Beth and Carolina
Tour the Lakehouse Retreat Featured in Modern Luxury Interiors!
Hot off the press! Our Lakehouse Retreat project was just published in the outdoor issue of Modern Luxury Interiors Texas! We designed this McQueeney, TX home for a longtime Pulp client, so we are especially excited to see this dreamy vacation home in print. What did the editors have to say about the home? See for yourself!
This home was one of our biggest transformations to date. We gave this dated lakeside home the ultimate example of the Pulp touch in a whole-home, floor-to-ceiling renovation. The result is a hotel-like vacation home designed to accommodate 16 guests in style. The house exemplifies our client’s style while feeling like the perfect place to host guests. If you don’t believe just how much of a transformation interior design can accomplish, behold the before and afters…
Entryway
Kitchen
“The kitchen is the heart of the home — the place everyone is and wants to be. We created an open and bright space that would be perfect for entertaining and spending time with family.” — Carolina V. Gentry
Dining Room
This space exemplifies the way we brought our client’s passions to life in the home, while keeping things practical. The dining chairs are covered in a wipeable vinyl to keep them beautiful as guests run in off the lake.” — Beth Dotolo
Living Room
Get Your Vacation Fix — Tour the Entire Home
All the Trends You Should Know About from High Point Market 2018
We’re back in the studios after a busy week sourcing new furnishings for our interior design clients at High Point Market. We came back with our hands full of new treasures and a list of favorites for clients to come. After six days scoping the depths of the showrooms and sitting in every piece of furniture we loved for clients, we formed our lists of the best new trends to hit market and the ones we’re seeing starting to stick around.
The Top Interior Design Trends
TIGHT BACK SOFAS: Everyone is loving tight back sofa, from furniture manufacturers themselves to our own design clients. We noticed tight back furniture is nearly every showroom we visited this market. CR Laine, Four Hands and Berhardt to name just a few!
BLACK FOREST MARBLE: Bernhardt debuted an exquisite new collection of furnishings with dramatic and bold Black Forest marble. We always love the luxe look of marble, but this takes it to a whole new level.
EQUESTRIAN VIBES: Horses were in as many places as furniture… seriously everywhere! Accessories, art, books, you name it — equestrian inspiration was plentiful. CR Laine and Bernhardt did this trend well!
BLUES + GREENS: Blush pink had it’s moment, but this is the year of blues and greens. We love a classic neutral, but have been loving seeing cool blues and greens used as the new neutral. We loved this artful wall at Trowbridge and were inspired again at Julian Chichester!
ANTIQUE MIRRORS: We were on the search all weekend for stylish antique mirrors for our Modern Mediterranean project and were excited to find so many of our favorite vendors, like these from Julian Chichester, had such well-done options!
DELICATE METAL ACCENTS: We love giving our clients pieces that have interesting details, whether statement or subtle, and noticed tons of furnishings featuring spherical based metal accents. Four Hands and Mr. Brown had a couple of our favorites!
ETHEREAL SCULPTURAL ELEMENTS: We found lighting, furniture, wall art and accessories drawing us all in from all angles with an artistic feel. We are all seeking comfort in uncertain times, and our interiors are trending this way with a higher focus on comfort and softer edges, shown by SkLo and Carvers Guild!
The Design Trends Still Happening
SCULPTURAL FORM: We hope this sticks around always and forever. Adventurous form and unique style is what we’re all about, so we love this trend, especially these lamps at Visual Comfort and sculptures from Noir.
VINTAGE INFLUENCE: We saw vintage vibes in some of our favorite lighting, art and vignettes from the weekend. We love an underlying vintage vibe in a cool piece that can still feel modern. Exhibit A: Kelly Wearstler for Visual Comfort.
CURVED FURNITURE: Speaking of vintage vibes, curved furniture is a trend here to stay! We were so inspired by the vignettes anchored around curved pieces from Julian Chichester and Bernhardt.
High Point is one of our favorite events of the year because we’re able to be the first to get our hands on new products in the design world for our clients. We’ve already started designing our favorites from this year’s market into our projects. Stay tuned to see how we use these trends in new spaces…
High Point Market Trends
First Look at an Eclectic Great Room in San Antonio
While the majority of our projects are located in Dallas and Seattle, we work on projects all over the country, ranging from guest bathroom transformations in Portland to Lakehouse retreats in McQueeney, TX. In this edition of designing from afar, we’re taking you on a tour of a project we just installed in San Antonio through each step of our three-step design process.
Step One: Consultation and Intake
Q: WHO IS THE CLIENT AND WHAT IS THEIR SCOPE OF WORK?
Our client lives in San Antonio, but is originally from Laredo and came to us through referral — we love our referral clients! She had seen the work we did for her friends and family and after deciding she wanted a change in her family’s great room, she contacted Pulp to come work our magic. Like many of our clients, she knew she wanted something fresh, but didn’t know how to create the right look on her own.
We selected furnishings and accessories for the entire great room, including the living area, parts of the dining room and outdoor space.
Q: WHY DID THE CLIENT DECIDE TO HIRE AN INTERIOR DESIGNER RATHER THAN TAKING THE PROJECT ON THEMSELVES?
This client has seen Pulp’s work in the flesh before and knew the value of hiring a designer through word of mouth referrals. Beyond having seen and loved our work, this client knew hiring a designer was the best way to get the look she wanted, but better.
Step Two: The Design Phase
To us, good design means personal, intentional and functional. We have an in-depth intake process where we really get to know who our clients are, their vision for their home and how they “do life” in each room. After we’ve learned all that we can about our clients, we begin collaborating on the design between our offices in Dallas and Seattle.
Q: WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE NEW DESIGN?
The existing space was very traditional and characteristic of “South Texas” style. We kept a touch of the Southwestern roots and mixed in transitional elements that made the space feel eclectic and well-traveled. Sky-scraping ceilings and touches of rustic among contemporary architecture made this space the perfect place to create a home for our clients’ many collected accessories.
Q: WHAT WAS A UNIQUE DESIGN CHALLENGE AND HOW IS PULP SOLVING THE PROBLEM?
We designed this entire project without actually seeing the house. Our client sent us a walk through video at the beginning and we worked around what we were able to see to create to-scale plans that were presented over video calls. In true Pulp fashion, making it to San Antonio for the install was an adventure in itself. Cue canceled flights, early morning dashes through airports and the Pulp team making to the install not just on time, but early.
Step Three: Install + Execution
Q: WHAT IS THE CLIENT MOST EXCITED FOR?
These clients let us take full control of the project and were blown away by the design we delivered. They absolutely loved all of the accessories we brought and were so happy to have an updated, comfortable space that looked amazing. It was so rewarding to hear how impressed our clients were after seeing how everything came together during install.
Stay tuned for the final reveal of this space and be sure to follow along on Instagram for design updates!
Find Us at High Point Market!
High Point Market is days away and the Pulp team is gearing up for another great weekend at one of our favorite interior design trips of the year. We are currently working on projects ranging from consultation phase to installs, and always take full advantage of the opportunity to source some of the coolest and most exclusive furnishings for our clients, regardless of the design phase!
Beyond doing sit test after sit test to find the most comfortable pieces for our clients and scouring the depths of showrooms for new Pulp-approved pieces for projects in-progress, we’ll be speaking and hosting a number of exciting events. We want to see you, here’s where you can find us…
High Point Market Events
Our freshly launched licensed collection of textiles, Pulp Design Studios for S. Harris, will be making its official public debut at our preview party on Sunday, April 15! We can’t wait to show off our hard work and hear the design communities response to the line. Plus… champagne and brunch bites!
If you’ve ever wanted to go behind-the-scenes of marketing and branding for interior design businesses, this is your chance! We’ll be sharing an inside look into brand strategy and marketing for ROI.
We’re so excited to join such an amazing panel of designers to discuss what “pretty” means in the world of interior design. With styles and trends changing faster than the seasons, this is bound to be a lively discussing on the way we perceive “pretty” interiors
We can’t wait to see you there! Our special events don’t stop at Hight Point — stay up-to-date on our travels and design events here!
A Trip to Osaka
Before + After: A Modern Family Home with Edge in Seattle
My, oh my have we been eagerly (and a little impatiently) waiting to release this project into the interior design airwaves. We love a project where we get to take two very different client styles and bring them together into one, cohesive and dynamic space filled with Pulp surprises of all kinds — we’re talking edgy meets traditional and maybe, just maybe, a playroom decked out with a climbing wall. Could it be true? All this in one, 1900’s era home? See it to believe it…
Tour an Energetic and Dynamic Queen Anne Home
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Clients:
A family of four with an on-point sense of fashion
The Decision:
Our clients were in the midst of installing lighting they had selected from big-box retailers when they realized they just couldn’t make their home the reflection of their styles and personalities they wanted it to be. They brought Pulp on to perfect the lighting and after realizing the impact of our design approach, they decided to have us tackle the entire home.
The Home:
Full of character! Built in 1906 and originally owned by a shipyard manager
The Goal:
A modern design that brought together our clients’ differing tastes with the Pulp flair, of course.
The Timeline:
About 7 months — Rome wasn’t built in a day, people!
ENTRYWAY
“This house was built in the 1900s and the original owner is believed to have been a shipyard manager. We took the history of the house and played our design off a vision of a modern nautical theme. The house is really dynamic, but you’ll find little details throughout that pay tribute to the home’s history.” — Beth Dotolo
LIVING ROOM
“The living room is one of our favorite spaces in the house. The layout was interesting to work around, but in the end we created this moody, but modern space where our clients can spend time together and entertain. We wanted to leave them with something they would be excited to show off.” — Carolina Gentry
“Having a really pretty living room and a professionally designed space I think has changed the way we care for the space… I really enjoyed the process working with Pulp. We definitely get a lot of pleasure out of having a beautiful home.” — Rachel, Pulp Design Studios Client
KITCHEN
“I thought Pulp did a really good job during their discovery process of understanding where we were both coming from aesthetically and then presenting some options that blended those two together.” — Mark, Pulp Design Studios Client
MASTER BEDROOM
“When you walk into the master you instantly get a sense of both styles, but find yourself standing in a really cohesive and sophisticated space.” — Beth Dotolo
Take a Tour
Tour the entire home!
The Top 10 Interior Design Trends of Spring 2018
The Top 10 Interior Design Trends in April 2018
Spring has sprung and so have another collection of Pulp-approved design trends. While the sunshine may be touch and go, inspiration is plentiful and we can’t wait to start using these finds in our upcoming projects…
We just wouldn’t deliver a new Pulp Edit without sharing the wallcoverings we are eagerly waiting to plaster from wall to wall. The Pearl from JuJu Papers was instantly pinned to our studio mood board… cream and gold? Always.
We love a lot of things about this space, featured in House Beautiful, like that grasscloth wallcovering and the statement furniture. Globally inspired spaces have been trending for awhile, so we appreciate how collected, yet luxurious this space remains due to curated nature of each element.
When your wallcovering doubles as art, we are all in! Coven by Maison C makes all the right kinds of statements and we cannot wait to use this in a project!
Avo and Shibori have been making all our leather dreams come true with their statement geometrics. Going bold with leathers is one of those detailed ways to take a space from average to undeniably adventurous.
Interior-related items aren’t the only things we find ourselves inspired by; Fashion and beauty serve as huge sources of influence in our designs. We spotted this photo by Kenneth Willardt in Harper’s Bazaar and loved the way this concept brought maximalist details to life.
What’s not to love about a statement bar stool, especially when they’re as cool as these photographed by Trevor Tondro for House Beautiful? Unique seating grounds and elevates the space!
Photographed by Simon Upton for Elle Decor, the marble on marble look in this bathroom redefines everything everyone knew to be true about luxury while managing to feel simplistic and fresh.
Our interior design clients come to us knowing that we’ll only source the coolest finishes for their homes, so it was love at first sight when we got our hands on Marea by United Tile!
Will there every be a time where Hermes doesn’t deliver a completely mesmerizing campaign? We think not. Feist your eyes upon jewel tones that pack a punch — a palette we love to design around and that actually inspired a large part of our collection, Pulp Design Studios for S. Harris. That brings us to the last, but definitely not least…
We could never pick a favorite textile from our collection, but we sure do love Hidalgo a whole lot. This pattern is a modern deconstructed interpretation of traditional Otomi fabrics from the Mexican State of Hidalgo and is basically exactly what Pulp would look like if it were an embroidered textile.
That’s a wrap! If you love these trends as much as we do, sign up for our newsletter to get the a fresh Pulp Edit straight to your inbox each month!
